All the cherries are off the trees in the North Fork Valley, but there are still plenty for sale at the farm stands. I know from experience that the best way to stock my larger is to have a small quantity of any given food stuff put up a in a variety of ways. So of course I am putting whole cherries up in syrup, but this year I also dried cherries, to cook with other dried fruits for winter desserts, to add to oatmeal or chocolate cookies, use in making chocolates around Valentines day (I dot little puddles of tempered chocolate with the cherries, then chill — they’re lovely), or to eat mixed into yogurt or granola for breakfast.

Eugenia Bone, a veteran food writer who has published in many national magazines and newspapers, is also a cookbook author. She is the author of Well-Preserved (Clarkson Potter 2009). She has contributed to many cookbooks and a few literary journals, been nominated for a variety of food writing awards and participated in radio, interactive and online interviews, in addition to appearing multiple times on television. She lives in New York City and Crawford, Colo.

The secret to tasty food is homemade and seasonal. To do that, you've got to put up food. Well-Preserved reports on small batch preservation year round, and generates recipes from those preserved foods.